I think the answer is probably going to be as varied as what you're finding on line. If it helps, and I'm not sure it will, I have never felt a need to oil my ebony or maple boards. It has always been rosewood - and I use ernie ball wonder wipes.
I don't think they need to be oiled but wiped clean now and again is a good idea if only to keep the grime off your strings so they don't gum up or start to rust and go "dead".
Not going to make friends here but for the last 40 years(74 SG, 75 D18) I've been using WD40 on rosewood, ebony and lacquered maple without any adverse effects - apply, rub in and buff off until cloth remains clean.
I used tongue oil one time but I cut my lip on a sharp fret end:sEm_oops:
I use Dunlop Fretboard 65 Ultimate Lemon Oil. I've been using it regularly (every string change) for several months now and noticed a vast improvement in the feel of the rosewood under my fingers, even when it's almost time for new strings. I've had no adverse effects. Honestly, the fretboard is in better shape than it was when I bought it 20 plus years ago.
I can't speak to "best" but any product from a major manufacturer DESIGNED for this use is probably fine. Using a product designed for something else would scare me a little.
i would think 11 pages of answers would be enough to go on, if only to point out that people here just don't agree on whether it's necessary or not. i don't think it is, and i have yet to see anyone post a pic of a board that NEEDED to be oiled because it was too dry, and what it looked like after they did. might as well use beccel for all the good it does. the guitar i sold to buy my strat was 35 yrs old, it needed no oil, i put no oil on it while i owned it, and it played like a dream. and it's not the first old guitar i've owned. the 335 was 7 or 8 yrs old, it also didn't need oiling.
it's snake oil and nothing more. when was the last time you needed to oil the inside of a speaker cab? they're made of wood, they're unfinished (usually) on the inside, and guess what? they last for half a century or more without ever being oiled
That was a Fernandes I picked up on Kijiji.
It was out on a stand, when I went to the guys place, near a fireplace.
That was the driest board that I'd ever seen.
I like the look of the after photos, but in the end isn't that just an aesthetic improvement? I imagine the neck felt the same to the fingers.
I dunno. I used to oil my necks with different products, but I gave up after noticing zero real change. I just clean them from time to time, just to take off excess guk. But that's about it.
that IS the difference in those pics. the "after" board is cleaner. the wood doesn't appear to be fuller in any way. the grain looks the same to my eye. i think wonder wipes would do the same thing, only without putting oil on anything. unless there's something i don't see/recognize?
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